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The Carcinogenic Potency Project

Ethyl alcohol (CAS 64-17-5)
SMILES, InChI and Structure are below.
Rats and Mice: Cancer Test Summary
Rat Target Sites Mouse Target Sites TD50 (mg/kg/day)
Male Female Male Female Rat Mouse
adr liv pan pit no positive no positive no positive 9110 no positive

Hamsters: Cancer Test Summary
Hamster Target Sites TD50
(mg/kg/day)
Male Female
no positive no test no positive

Key to the Table Above

Positivity: For each chemical with a positive (carcinogenic) experiment in the Carcinogenic Potency Database (CPDB), results are included on carcinogenic potency (TD50) in each species and target sites in males and females. Positivity is determined by an author’s opinion in a published paper. If all experimental results in the CDPB are negative in a sex-species group, “no positive” appears. If the CPDB has no experiments in the sex-species group, “no test” appears. The summary presents the strongest evidence of carcinogenicity in each group. If there are both positive and negative experiments in a sex-species, the negative results are ignored in this Summary Table.
Target Site Codes:   adr = adrenal gland. liv = liver. pan = pancreas. pit = pituitary gland. Target sites are listed if any author of published experimental results concluded that tumors were induced in that organ by the test agent. If there is more than one positive experiment in a sex-species, target sites listed may be from more than one experiment, e.g. if liver and lung are both listed, then liver may have been a target in one experiment and lung in another.
TD50: Our standardized measure of carcinogenic potency, TD50, is the daily dose rate in mg/kg body weight/day to induce tumors in half of test animals that would have remained tumor-free at zero dose. Whenever there is more than one positive experiment in a species, the reported TD50 value is a Harmonic Mean calculated using the TD50 value from the most potent target site in each positive experiment.

The Carcinogenic Potency Database (CPDB) is a unique and widely used international resource of the results of 6540 chronic, long-term animal cancer tests on 1547 chemicals. The CPDB provides easy access to the bioassay literature, with qualitative and quantitative analyses of both positive and negative experiments that have been published over the past 50 years in the general literature through 2001 and by the National Cancer Institute/National Toxicology Program through 2004. The CPDB standardizes the diverse literature of cancer bioassays that vary widely in protocol, histopathological examination and nomenclature, and in the published author’s choices of what information to provide in their papers. Results are reported in the CPDB for tests in rats, mice, hamsters, dogs, and nonhuman primates.

For each experiment, information is included on species, strain, and sex of test animal; features of experimental protocol such as route of administration, duration of dosing, dose level(s) in mg/kg body weight/day, and duration of experiment; experimental results are provided on target organ, tumor type, and tumor incidence; carcinogenic potency (TD50) and its statistical significance; shape of the dose-response, author’s opinion as to carcinogenicity, and literature citation.

Only tests with dosing for at least ¼ the standard lifespan of the species and experiment length at least ½ the lifespan are included in the CPDB. Only routes of administration with whole body exposure are included. Doses are standardized, average dose rates in mg/kg/day. A description of methods used in the CPDB to standardize the diverse literature of animal cancer tests is presented for: 1) Criteria for inclusion of experiments 2) Standardization of average daily dose levels and 3) TD50 estimation for a standard lifespan. See Methods for other details.

TD50 provides a standardized quantitative measure that can be used for comparisons and analyses of many issues in carcinogenesis. The range of TD50 values across chemicals that are rodent carcinogens is more than 100 million-fold. More than half the chemicals tested are positive in at least one experiment.

A plot of all results on each experiment in the CPDB for this chemical is presented below. These results are the source information for the Cancer Test Summary table above.

Ethyl alcohol: All Experiments and Citations in CPDB
The definition of each code in the plot below will appear in a pop-up window when the field name in the header line is clicked, e.g., Strain, Site, Path. Each numbered line starts a new experiment and reports protocol information in black. Average daily dose-rates per kg body weight per day are in green. Remaining lines report experimental results in blue.
Abbreviations of fields in header line: # = the line number in the plot of all CPDB chemicals; Xpo = duration of dosing; Xpt = duration of experiment; Site = tissue; Path = tumor type; DR = dose-response; AuOp = author’s opinion about carcinogenicity; LoConf, UpConf = confidence limits (99%) on TD50; Inc = tumor incidence for each dose group.
See Guide to reading the plot for details on each field, using an example of one experiment.
See Help to improve readability, or to fit the plot onto the screen or a printed page. 



Chemical (Synonym) CAS
# Species Sex Strain Route Xpo+Xpt PaperNum        0 Dose  1 Dose 2 Dose  3 Dose          Literature Reference or NCI/NTP:Site Path
Site Path Notes   TD50  DR Pval    AuOp LoConf UpConf   Cntrl   1 Inc  2 Inc   3 Inc                                                        Brkly Code


ETHYL ALCOHOL  (ethanol) 64-17-5
2673 H m syg wat 29w78 2345                          0    3.29gm  8.23gm                                  McCoy;clet,33,151-159;1986
 trh tum er     no dre   P=1.    -  7.36gm n.s.s.   0/27    0/27    0/27
2674 M m amm wat 72w72 2081                          0    16.7gm                                     Anderson;carc,13,2107-2111;1992
 liv hpa e      127.gm   P<.4       27.8gm n.s.s.   1/47    3/48
 lun ala e      no dre   P=1.       10.4gm n.s.s.  39/47   33/48
2675 M m bal wat 69w86 2510n                         0    1.33gm                                       Zariwala;ijeb,29,738-743;1991
 for sqp        no dre   P=1.    -  5.64gm n.s.s.   1/30    0/30
2676 M f c3s wat 86w86 1632                          0    24.0gm                                      Schrauzer;jsac,40,240-246;1979
 mam adc Lr     no dre   P=1.       15.3gm n.s.s.  23/30    8/15
2677 M f swi wat 69w86 2510m                         0    1.60gm                                       Zariwala;ijeb,29,738-743;1991
 for sqp s      10.9gm   P<.1    -  2.67gm n.s.s.   0/30    2/30
 tba mix s      21.4gm   P<.6    -  2.94gm n.s.s.   1/30    2/30
2678 M m swi wat 69w86 2510m                         0    1.33gm
 lun ade        no dre   P=1.    -  3.40gm n.s.s.   1/30    1/30
2679 R m aci wat 52w52 2076                          0    5.00gm                            Watanabe;gann,83,588-593;1992/pers.comm.
 for pam er     4.98gm   P<.03      1.50gm n.s.s.   0/22    3/19
 stg adc er     no dre   P=1.       4.89gm n.s.s.   0/22    0/19
2680 R f cdr wat 24m24 1962                          0    2.86gm                                        Cheever;faat,14,243-261;1990
 liv nnd e      no dre   P=1.    -  28.9gm n.s.s.   1/50    0/49
 tba tum e      no dre   P=1.    -  2.70gm n.s.s.  47/50   41/50
2681 R m cdr wat 24m24 1962                          0    2.50gm
 liv nnd e      84.8gm   P<.3    -  13.8gm n.s.s.   0/50    1/50
 liv hpc e      no dre   P=1.    -  25.8gm n.s.s.   1/50    0/50
 tba tum e      no dre   P=1.    -  1.38gm n.s.s.  42/50   42/50
2682 R m cdr wat 52w52 2074                          0    5.00gm                          Watanabe;gann,83,1267-1272;1992/pers.comm.
 stg adc er     no dre   P=1.       3.86gm n.s.s.   0/12    0/15
2683 R m f3d wat 51w52 2564                          0    4.90gm                                          Wada;clet,124,127-134;1998
 for tum er     no dre   P=1.    -  4.04gm n.s.s.   0/15    0/16
 stg tum er     no dre   P=1.    -  4.04gm n.s.s.   0/15    0/16
2684 R f nbr wat 64w64 162a                          0    5.71gm                                        Yamamoto;ijcn,2,337-343;1967
 liv tum        no dre   P=1.       8.92gm n.s.s.   0/20    0/20
2685 R m nbr wat 64w64 162a                          0    5.00gm
 liv tum        no dre   P=1.       7.80gm n.s.s.   0/20    0/20
2686 R b sda wat 26m26 1264                          0    9.45gm                                         Schmahl;clet,1,215-218;1976
 tba mal e      no dre   P=1.    -  39.9gm n.s.s.   4/48    4/48
2687 R f sda wat 24m28 2257m                         0    1.49gm                                  Holmberg;txcy,96,133-145;1995/1994
 pan ade Ie     21.9gm   P<.04      6.63gm n.s.s.   0/50    3/50
 mgl mix Ie     4.71gm   P<.5       981.mg n.s.s.  38/50   41/50
 mgl ben Ie     6.07gm   P<.4       1.62gm n.s.s.  25/50   30/50
 mgl fba Ie     8.79gm   P<.5       1.98gm n.s.s.  22/50   26/50
 liv hpc Ie     no dre   P=1.       20.4gm n.s.s.   1/50    0/50
 liv mix Ie     no dre   P=1.       20.4gm n.s.s.   2/50    0/50
 mgl car Ie     no dre   P=1.       5.29gm n.s.s.  13/50   11/50
 liv hpa Ie     no dre   P=1.       20.4gm n.s.s.   1/50    0/50
 tba ben Ie     3.15gm   P<.2       1.08gm n.s.s.  30/50   37/50
 tba mal Ie     no dre   P=1.       3.35gm n.s.s.  23/50   21/50
 tba mix Ie     no dre   P=1.       340.mg n.s.s.  50/50   49/50
2688 R f sda wat 24m28 2257n                         0    4.46gm
 pit nen Ie     5.48gm   P<.02      2.40gm n.s.s.  29/50   40/50
 liv hpa Ie     201.gm   P<.3       32.8gm n.s.s.   0/50    1/50
 liv hpc Ie     no dre   P=1.       61.1gm n.s.s.   0/50    0/50
 pan mix Ie     no dre   P=1.       30.0gm n.s.s.   2/50    2/50
 tba mix Ie     5.87gm   P<.6       782.mg n.s.s.  48/50   49/50
 tba ben Ie     12.1gm   P<.3       3.71gm n.s.s.  29/50   35/50
 tba mal Ie     61.0gm   P<.7       7.94gm n.s.s.  19/50   21/50
2689 R m sda wat 30m30 1440                          0    2.50gm                                           Radike;enhp,41,59-62;1981
 liv hnd e      8.26gm   P<.0005    4.47gm 29.0gm  10/80   29/79
 pit tum e      9.11gm   P<.0005 +  4.89gm 32.1gm   8/80   26/79
 adr tum e      13.7gm   P<.0005 +  7.38gm 29.9gm   0/80   14/79
 pan tum e      13.7gm   P<.0005 +  7.38gm 29.9gm   0/80   14/79
 liv hpc e      28.4gm   P<.02   +  11.9gm n.s.s.   1/80    8/79
 tba mix e      2.13gm   P<.0005    1.42gm 3.51gm  16/80   61/79
2690 R m sda wat 24m28 2257m                         0    1.21gm                                  Holmberg;txcy,96,133-145;1995/1994
 pan car Ie     17.5gm   P<.2       4.90gm n.s.s.   1/50    4/50
 liv hpc Ie     no dre   P=1.       16.6gm n.s.s.   2/50    0/50
 liv hpa Ie     no dre   P=1.       16.6gm n.s.s.   0/50    0/50
 tba mix Ie     1.21gm   P<.3       305.mg n.s.s.  45/50   48/50
 tba mal Ie     7.18gm   P<.3       1.95gm n.s.s.  15/50   20/50
 tba ben Ie     no dre   P=1.       1.36gm n.s.s.  35/50   35/50
2691 R m sda wat 24m28 2257n                         0    3.64gm
 pan mix Ie     33.2gm   P<.4       8.52gm n.s.s.   8/50   12/50
 liv hpc Ie     164.gm   P<.3       26.8gm n.s.s.   0/50    1/50
 liv hpa Ie     no dre   P=1.       49.9gm n.s.s.   0/50    0/50
 tba ben Ie     no dre   P=1.       6.88gm n.s.s.  30/50   27/50
 tba mal Ie     no dre   P=1.       8.94gm n.s.s.  16/50   16/50
 tba mix Ie     no dre   P=1.       2.25gm n.s.s.  44/50   44/50
2692 R m sls wat 28m28 2185                          0    2.50gm  10.0gm                     Shibayama;extp,45,15-19;1993/pers.comm.
 liv mix er     33.8gm * P<.03   -  14.4gm n.s.s.   3/44   10/41   12/43
 liv hpc er     93.9gm * P<.07   -  35.7gm n.s.s.   0/44    2/41    3/43
 liv hpa er     56.1gm * P<.2    -  19.2gm n.s.s.   3/44    8/41    9/43
2693 R f wis wat 52w52 2028                          0    4.08gm                                       Yamagiwa;gann,82,771-778;1991
 liv mix r      no dre   P=1.       2.10gm n.s.s.   0/5     0/10
2694 R m wis wat 91w91 1800                          0    2.50gm                                        Salmon;carc,7,1447-1450;1986
 for sqc r      no dre   P=1.       3.94gm n.s.s.   0/10    0/10
Mutagenicity in Salmonella: negative
SMILES Code for Ethyl alcohol: CCO
InChI Code for Ethyl alcohol: InChI=1/C2H6O/c1-2-3/h3H,2H2,1H3
Source for SMILES and InChI: USEPA Distributed Structure-Searchable Toxicity (DSSTox) Database
Chemical Structure for Ethyl alcohol: Chemical Structure
Source for structure: National Library of Medicine ChemIDPlus

See full CPDB Summary Table on 1547 chemicals. See Full CPDB for all results on 6540 experiments of 1547 chemicals.

A complete list of CPDB chemicals, which is searchable by name or by CAS number, is available here.

For a compendium of CPDB results organized by target organ, which lists all chemicals in each species that induced tumors in each of 35 organs, see Summary Table by Target Organ.

The CPDB is available in several formats that permit printing and downloading into spreadsheets and statistical databases.

  1. A plot of the CPDB presents results of 1547 experiments on 6540 chemicals in an easily readable format that has been used in publications of the CPDB.
  2. A Screen version plot for use on a single computer screen, with the same data.
  3. Excel version of the same data.
  4. Tab-separated versions of the same data, which can be easily read into databases.

A Supplementary Dataset gives details on dosing and survival for each experiment.

Relatively precise estimates of the lower confidence limit on the TD10 (LTD10) are readily calculated from the TD50 and its lower confidence limit, which are reported in the CPDB. For researchers and regulatory agencies interested in LTD10 values, we provide them in an Excel spreadsheet.

PDF versions of our publications of analyses using the CPDB are available, organized by year and by research topic.

Carcinogenic Potency Database Project (CPDB) Home Page
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Last updated: October 3, 2007


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